


Necessary Tools

by slackerD



Series: The Benefits of Good Spatial Reasoning Skills [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, Juggling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-24
Updated: 2014-03-24
Packaged: 2018-01-16 20:17:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1360378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slackerD/pseuds/slackerD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nyssa teaches Sara to juggle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Necessary Tools

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kaleidoscope_Carousel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaleidoscope_Carousel/gifts).



> So apparently [Kaleidoscope_Carousel](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaleidoscope_Carousel/pseuds/Kaleidoscope_Carousel) has the headcanon that Nyssa taught Sara to juggle, which I find both believable and awesome. And since I've had to teach quite a few people how to juggle, I really had no choice but to write this fic.

Nyssa's been training Sara for days on hand to hand combat and though Sara does feel like she's improving, she's grateful for the reprieve when Nyssa tells her they'll be trying something a little bit different today.

"Juggling?"

"I thought it would be a bit less stressful for you," Nyssa replies, handing Sara a tennis ball.

"And how exactly is this relevant to my training?" Sara asks.

"Because it requires excellent hand eye coordination, balance, timing, trusting your instincts and eventually being confident around dangerous objects," Nyssa explains.

Sara looks doubtfully at the tennis ball in her hands. "Please tell me we're not setting it on fire."

Instead of replying, Nyssa pulls out three knives. Sara watches in fascination as she tosses one after the other in the air and juggles them.

"Of course you can juggle knives," Sara retorts.

Smirking, Nyssa finishes by whipping each knife in quick succession at the wall, each hitting with a solid thud and remaining thoroughly embedded.

"Everyone needs a hobby," Nyssa replies, turning her attention back to Sara and picking up a tennis ball of her own.

Sara looks skeptically at the fuzzy green ball in her hand. "Am I so uncoordinated that you're starting me out with only one?"

"One of the most important things to remember about learning anything is that becoming frustrating will only hinder the process," Nyssa tells her. "Therefore we're going to start with the most basic step so that does not happen."

Sara nods and watches as Nyssa shows her the most basic pattern, the cascade, using only one ball. It looks like a figure eight and Sara is easily able to mimic it.

"Make sure you throw it no higher than your eye line," Nyssa says.

Sara nods.

"Also, you shouldn't be looking at your hands," she continues. "You should know where the ball is going to land based off where it is in your eye line."

"Easy," Sara says. 

But Nyssa makes her do it twenty times perfectly before handing her a second ball. She then makes Sara toss the two tennis balls in the figure eight pattern fifty times in a row. The first few times, Sara's eye line drops and Nyssa starts the count over.

"This is a bit of overkill, don't you think?" Sara asks as Nyssa hands her a third ball.

"Learning a little extra discipline wouldn't hurt you," Nyssa replies.

Sara sighs, but nods. It has been Nyssa's biggest criticism when training her.

Nyssa faces Sara with two balls in her left hand and one in her right.

"I want you to mirror my actions," Nyssa tells her before tossing one of the balls in her left hand in an arc towards her right. She explains each action as she does it, repeating them twice, before catching two balls in her leftt hand and one in her right. "Now you try it."

Sara nods and tosses one of the tennis balls in her right hand towards her left, mimicking what she just witnessed Nyssa do. As the ball starts to come down, she throws the one in her left, barely avoiding the first downward ball. She manages to catch the first tennis ball in her left hand and toss the last one in her right into the air. She's able to do this twice more before dropping a ball. 

Nyssa just hands her the one in her right hand and tells her to continue.

Once Sara's done fifty throws without stopping or dropping a ball, Nyssa allows her to take a break. It takes a few times and so she's grateful for the rest. She's honestly a little annoyed with herself with how long it's taken her to learn the apparently very basic pattern.

"You're doing well," Nyssa tells her as Sara drinks some water.

"It took me four tries before I made it to fifty," Sara protests.

"And yet we've only been doing this for about an hour," Nyssa grins back.

Sara's a bit surprised because it feels like it's been longer. Nyssa seems impressed with her progress and so Sara allows herself to feel proud for a moment.

Reversing the basic cascade is easy and Sara is able to do fifty throws after only her second attempt.

However, when Nyssa suggests trying two balls in one hand, Sara is again filled with doubt. Still, she doesn't want to be a disappointment, so she sets down one of the balls and waits for further instructions.

Like before, Nyssa faces Sara, two balls in her left hand, telling Sara to once again mirror her actions. 

They start with the easiest pattern first, columns. Sara watches as Nyssa tosses one ball straight up, moves her hand slightly to the left and then tosses the other. When the first one comes down, she catches it and tosses it again, before catching the second ball and tossing it again as well.

It looks simple enough when Nyssa does it, but it takes Sara a few tries to get the balls high enough in the air. However, thanks to the repetition of the cascade that she's definitely confident about doing, Sara gets the timing down fairly quickly and is able to do fifty throws in a row faster than she thought she would.

Nyssa then has her try circling the balls and it's easier than Sara expected. She makes it to fifty throws and without prompting, decides to try throwing the balls counterclockwise instead of clockwise. It takes her two attempts for her to make it to fifty throws again, but Sara thoroughly enjoys the looks of pride coming from Nyssa at her proficiency.

By the time Nyssa says it's time to stop for the day, Sara is able to do a dozen tricks with three balls as well as being able to juggle two balls in either hand. But more importantly, she can actually juggle four. She can't quite seem to make it to fifty tosses yet, but Sara still feels pretty good about her thirty-six throw record; especially considering that when the day started, she couldn't even juggle two balls.

"I must admit," Nyssa says. "I am impressed with your progress today."

"Thank you," Sara replies. "I impressed myself, actually."

"I have no doubt that the rest of your training will go smoothly."

High on her successful day of juggling, Sara had actually forgotten that she's supposed to be learning how to fight and eventually use weapons.

"You are not reassured by this?" Nyssa asks.

Sara shrugs, despite knowing that Nyssa hates seeing the uncertainty in her.

"Your success at juggling means that you have all the necessary tools to be a master assassin, especially confidence," Nyssa assures her. "It's why we did what we did today."

Sara looks at her questioningly.

"Did you ever think you'd be able to juggle four balls?" she asks.

Sara shakes her head.

"And yet, now you can," Nyssa replies. "Please try to remember this tomorrow when we resume our martial arts training."

"I'll try," Sara tells her.

Nyssa grins.

"But just so you know," Sara adds. "Eventually, I expect you to teach me how to juggle knives."


End file.
